DEATH NOTE (2006)

It's a rare film that truly changes your concept of how potent movies can be; Death Note, for me, was such a film.  Based on the Japanese manga, it's the story of brilliant college student Light Yagami (Tatsuya Fujiwara), who finds the Death Note - a notebook with the power to kill any human whose name is written in it.  Deciding to use it to secretly rid society of the world's most heinous criminals, Light quickly develops a god complex, power corrupting him as bad guys start to fall - and the general public hail their unknown vigilante, "Kira," a hero.  But another college-age genius, the world's greatest detective known only as "L" (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), is hot on Light's trail ... in a film so original, so suspenseful, with fine performances and incredibly believable CGI, that by the time the tension-filled finale arrives you'll have gnawed your fingernails to the elbow.  Rarely will a film capture your mind and imagination more, from start to finish ... before leaving you gasping for the sequel. (not rated)  *****

DEATH NOTE trailer

AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
New York City, 1978.  Brilliant con artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), at the top of his game since taking on British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), finds everything jeopardized when the two are busted by rogue FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper).  But DiMaso, anxious to impress the Bureau (and being a bit of a nutjob), offers them a deal that involves helping him to catch some major conmen, as well as learning some of Irving's tricks.  When the deal spirals into entrapping a New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner) and some federal politicians, then gets worse via DiMaso's obsession with taking down a mafia kingpin, Irving and Sydney - despite some new-found differences - realize something has to be done before they're in too deep to get out.  Bale and Jennifer Lawrence (as Irving's bubblehead of a wife) are huge standouts, Cooper also great (only Amy Adams comes off a bit false), in a well-crafted, darkly entertaining comedy/drama that - somehow - still comes off emotionally distant. (rated R)  ****

AMERICAN HUSTLE trailer

GRAVITY (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**

Alfonso Cuaron, already one of the film industry's best directors, hits near-perfection with Gravity ... the story of Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), an accomplished medical engineer who - on her first mission in space, to help repair a shuttle with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) - is literally catapulted into peril when an accident destroys the shuttle, leaving her and Kowalsky tethered only to each other and free-falling in space.  For ninety minutes the film never lets up on the suspense, Bullock doing an amazing job of getting the viewer to care deeply about Stone, even when much of her dialogue is a virtual monologue to herself.  The film looks fantastic; you won't feel like you're watching a movie so much as free-falling with Dr. Stone ... her plight unknown until the last breath-catching seen.  Brilliant, and a masterpiece for Cuaron in that he makes every single frame of the film absolutely - stunningly - achingly real. (PG-13)  *****

GRAVITY trailer

ERNEST & CELESTINE (2012)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
A sweet, handsomely-told animated film about a bear (Ernest) and a mouse (Celestine) who form an unlikely friendship in a France where the bear population (living above-ground) and the mouse population (whose cavernous world is underground) co-exist with quiet hostility.  Mouse children are taught to fear the hungry, evil bears.  Bears fear the mice, who in mass numbers will eat their food AND their cubs with their sharp incisors.  But when the soft-spoken, artistic Celestine helps to find the starving Ernest (his mountain hibernation disrupted by hunger) some much-needed food ... and Ernest does her a favor in return ... both find themselves on the most-wanted lists of the police forces from both their worlds.  Among the high-profile, almost painfully colorful/computerized animated films up for Oscar, this one plays like an elegant, enchanting watercolor hanging sublimely on the wall of the Louvre.  Lovely.  (Note: please see ONLY in the original French, w/English subtitles, if possible!) (rated PG)  ****1/2

ERNEST & CELESTINE trailer

BLUE JASMINE (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
After the disappointing To Rome with Love, Woody Allen's closer to form with Blue Jasmine largely due to a cast led by Cate Blanchett.  She plays former New York socialite Jasmine French, fallen from grace due to scandal, who shows up penniless on the doorstep of her younger sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco.  Though Jasmine's husband bilked Ginger and her then-husband out of their life savings years ago, Ginger - feeling sorry for her sister - takes Jasmine in, and through her erratic and narcissistic behavior (often bolstered by liquor) Jasmine systematically begins to disrupt the lives of Ginger and everyone else around her; she's simply unable to function in the real world, haunted by both her previous life and some dark secrets she's buried deep.  The story plays out like a darkly comic A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanchett even making Jasmine sympathetic in her self-destruction.  Not Allen's best, but better than his recent efforts. (rated PG-13)  ****

BLUE JASMINE trailer

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Ron Woodruff, in 1985 Dallas, is an electrician and hustler whose passions in life are sex, drugs, and booze.  Also homophobic, Ron goes ballistic when, on a visit to the hospital for a work injury, learns he's not only tested positive for HIV but also has about thirty days to live.  Railing against the "fags" disease, Ron's finally forced to confront his illness, and in his quest to live reads of an experimental new drug - AZT - that seems to help but is awaiting FDA approval, so is unavailable to him.  Finding it in Mexico, Ron begins smuggling a variety of unapproved test drugs into the U.S. ... and, pairing up with a transgender drug addict, Rayon (also dying of AIDS), starts the Dallas Buyers Club in an effort to keep those with HIV - including those in the very community he once detested - alive, regardless of government red tape or the Feds hotly on his tail.  Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are flawless in this true story about hope ... not only for a cure, but for man's ability to find his lost humanity.  Lovely film. (rated R)  *****

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB trailer

DATE AND SWITCH (2014)

Michael (Nicholas Braun) and Matty (Hunter Cope), best buds since childhood, remain virgins as seniors in high school.  Both have broken up with their respective girlfriends - Michael's wouldn't put out, and Matty saw his as too good for him - and, determined not to leave high school as virgins, the boys makes a pact that each will lose his virginity at prom.  Things get shaken up, however, when Matty finally gets up the  nerve to reveal to Michael that he's "a gay dude" - shocking Michael because Matty's a bit chunky, doesn't like to bathe a lot, and has a stoner mentality ... certainly not fitting any gay mold.  After an initial rockiness, Michael becomes more determined than ever to show his buddy being gay is cool, even focusing his attention on getting Matty laid first - leading to some funny situations, but also the question of how accepting Michael really is of the change in their friendship.  A charming, very funny indie comedy that, refreshingly, avoids gay stereotypes in ways most films don't ... or won't. (rated R)  ***1/2

DATE AND SWITCH trailer

BLACK RAT (2010)

Asuka, a quiet but upbeat high school girl who committed suicide by jumping off a roof wearing the oversized costume head of a rat she was supposed to dance in for a festival (yes, you read all that right) has seemingly come back from the dead when six of her fellow classmates each receives a text, telling them to meet her at their high school at midnight.  Once assembled, they're approached by a uniformed high school girl wearing the bloodied rat's head, who tells them via a notebook hanging from her neck that each of them will be killed to avenge Asuka's death.  The classmates are all stereotypes (the brain, the moron, the slutty cheerleader, the rebel, etc.), action fairly gore-free, flashbacks attempting to get you to know the characters only mildly successful - yet for a low-budget Japanese slasher flick with little slashing, with a "surprise" ending that only somewhat works, there's something curiously intriguing about how this film lays everything out, and its sheer goofiness.  Worth a look if you like this kind of thing. (not rated)  ***

BLACK RAT trailer

INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED (2013)

Acapulco ladies' man Valentin (Eugenio Derbez) has his world turned upside down when former fling Julie literally drops a baby girl - HIS baby girl, Maggie - into Valentin's arms, then disappears again from his life.  Panicked, the playboy makes his way to Los Angeles, where Julie was from, to return the infant ... but when he learns Julie's relocated elsewhere, finds himself staying and building a career as a stuntman to support Maggie, who grows to become his best friend and entire world.  Maggie helps Valentin grow up, even as she also brings out the child in him, the two becoming inseparable ... so when Julie suddenly reappears six years after abandoning her daughter, her presence threatens Valentin's happiness - and his relationship with his beloved Maggie.  Instructions Not Included is by turns hilariously funny and infinitely moving; a film that will touch your heart to depths few movies can, while avoiding melodrama and cliche.  Be sure to get a BIG box of Kleenex for this one. (PG-13)  *****

INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED trailer 

PHILOMENA (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Pushed out of his position with Britain's Labour Party over a scandal, former journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) - jaded, cynical, and proud of it - finds his road back to journalism potentially well-paved by the human interest story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), an elderly Irish woman forced to give up the son she gave birth to fifty years ago.  Sent to live in a convent as a pregnant teen, Philomena saw her son adopted out by the nuns when he was two, her memories and a single photograph of Anthony her only resources now to finding him.  Martin, with an editor interested in Philomena's tale, helps dig for the truth ... but as secrets come to light and the trail leads to Washington, D.C., Sixsmith's impatience turns to compassion as he discovers the "human" side to his human interest story - and injustices done, fifty years ago, that need bringing to light.  A funny, sweet, also powerful true story, with outstanding work by Coogan (who also co-wrote the script) and an always Oscar-worthy Dame Judi. (rated PG-13)  *****

PHILOMENA trailer

12 YEARS A SLAVE (2103)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Steve McQueen's true story of Solomon Northup - an educated free Black man in pre-Civil War upstate New York, with a home and family, who was abducted and sold into slavery in the south - is unflinching in both its beauty and cruelty, in its tale of a man who dealt with over a decade of beatings, injustice, and the constant threat of death, only rarely to be shown any kindness - and even then, by those who couldn't help him set things right. Chiwetel Ejiofor, for so long now one of the most gifted actors working today, gives Northup such strength and quiet dignity, reflecting in him what was happening to an entire race of people, and with a stellar supporting cast including Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender, director McQueen shines a glaring spotlight on a horrific, shameful period in this country's history, when fellow human beings were treated as something far less than human ... something we, as one people, obviously still need to be reminded of today. (rated R)  *****

12 YEARS A SLAVE trailer

NEBRASKA (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
The simple premise of Nebraska - 77-year-old Billings, Montana resident Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) receives a publishers sweepstakes "winning" notice in the mail, and convinced he's won $1 million will not stop until he gets to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim it - expands into a beautiful buddy/father-son/road trip film when Woody's younger son David (Will Forte) decides to drive the old man to Nebraska, to at least spend some time with his aging dad.  On the way they stop in to visit relatives in Hawthorne, Nebraska, their old hometown, prompting a mini-family reunion that gets even mom (June Squibb) and David's brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) to come down from Billings ... but also has the relatives trying to dig their claws in when they learn about Woody's supposed good fortune.  Bruce Dern is at his best here, investing the stubborn, unsmiling, alcoholic Woody with real heart and soul, while paired to perfection with the hilarious June Squibb as Woody's outspoken wife Kate.  Funny, tender, heartwarming - and character-driven storytelling at its best. (rated R)  ****1/2

NEBRASKA trailer

THE LONE RANGER (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
The hate generated for this film, among critics especially, is astounding ... and unjustified.  Much as one may dislike Jerry Bruckheimer, or special effects-laden films, there's no doubt this story of Tonto, and his retelling of how barrister John Reid became the Lone Ranger, has a legion of adoring fans who appreciate the humor, intense action, and sheer fun of this ideal summertime film; all fluff, often funny, and striving to do no more than entertain.  Johnny Depp has some brilliant one-liners, often putting even Reid in his place, and as Reid Armie Hammer manages to bring a stoic humor and real heart to the uptight attorney who will become a hero.  Add a terrific supporting cast, stir in a ton of action culminating in an over-the-top finale/chase scene that will have your heart pounding in your chest when the original TV show's theme kicks in, and The Lone Ranger becomes a fun ride all ages can enjoy.  No matter what anyone says. (rated PG-13)  ****

THE LONE RANGER trailer

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (2014)

After the campy 1987 theatrical film ignored key elements of the cult-classic novel, Lifetime TV at least sticks closer to the source material.  After their father dies in a car crash, the four Dollanganger siblings are uprooted by their mother to live in her wealthy parents' estate, which she hasn't seen since her folks cut her off for marrying the kids' father years ago.  To get back into her dad's good graces (and his will) again, the mother (Heather Graham) - along with her mother (Ellen Burstyn) - spirit the children up to the attic rooms of the manor, where they must hide until their mother wins her father's love back.  But weeks turn into months and the children remain locked away, seeing little of their mother as they're forced to endure the verbal and physical abuse of their religious zealot grandmother.  Things get even weirder as secrets are revealed and the two eldest siblings - isolated from the outside world as puberty hits - develop more than familial affection for each other, helping to keep the film a gothic oddity that - while truer to the book - never feels believable. (rated TV-14)  **1/2

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC trailer 

HER (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Her is the story of the lonely, isolated Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), who writes love letters for other people for a living even as he struggles with the finality of divorce.  Melancholy runs his world, until Theodore downloads a new operating system tailored to fit his every need - and meets Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), who organizes his email, reminds him of appointments ... and before long is also laughing at his jokes, consoling him on his divorce, even encouraging him to date again.  Soon they're inseparable, Theodore even referring to Samantha as his girlfriend to friends and co-workers as he realizes he's falling in love ... in writer/director Spike Jonze's futuristic yet humane take on how technology is swiftly replacing all social interaction, even as we reach out for something more.  Intelligent and beautifully acted, the film's flaw is in an ending that feels sterile, putting an incomplete cap on Theodore's world just as you really start to care about him. (rated R)  ***1/2

HER trailer 

MURDER BY DEATH (1976)

Neil Simon's classic comedy-thriller begins when quirky millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) decides to host a weekend dinner party.  He invites only the world's leading detectives, and despite not knowing their host they attend when Twain promises them not just dinner but also an intriguing mystery to solve.  The detectives, parodying some of the genre's greatest fictional creations, include thinly-disguised versions of Nick & Nora Charles, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Charlie Chan ... even Bogart's Sam Spade.  Once around the dinner table, Twain announces that a murder will occur at midnight - with someone at the table as the victim - and the detectives, now trapped in the house, have until dawn to solve the crime or he'll ruin their reputations by announcing their failure to the world.  Add a blind butler (Alec Guinness) and a deaf AND mute maid (Nancy Walker) to the mix, and you have an all-star send-up of murder that's full of puns, sight gags, double entendres ... and is, at times, pretty hilarious (even if some may find the ending a bit of a head-scratcher). (rated PG)  ****

MURDER BY DEATH trailer

SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1959)

Elizabeth Taylor is a revelation in this film, based on a Tennessee Williams play, about wealthy New Orleans shrew Violet Venable (an electrifying Katharine Hepburn), who tries to bribe psychiatric surgeon Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) - desperately in need of funds to keep his hospital going - into not only declaring her niece Catherine (Taylor) insane, but to also lobotomize the girl, traumatized over the death of her cousin Sebastian (Violet's son) while the two were on holiday the previous summer.  But talking with Catherine convinces the doctor she may be far from insane - indeed, the truth slowly emerges that Violet wants Catherine "fixed" to shut her up; the girl witnessed something horrific on that day last summer, something Violet wants never to see the light of day.  Taylor and Hepburn are phenomenal, the last twenty minutes of the film alone a virtual monologue by Taylor that will have your head reeling.  Tennessee Williams was a master; nothing better than his words in the hands of actors of the same caliber. (not rated)  *****

SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER trailer

THE CROODS (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
The Croods - a prehistoric family led by patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage) - have a good, safe life in which they do everything together: hunt, eat, play, sleep ... mainly because Grug has taught his wife, three kids, and ancient mother-in-law to fear EVERYTHING, especially the dark, always making sure his family is tucked into their cave every night before the sun sets.  His teenage daughter Eep (Emma Stone), knowing there has to be something more to their world, sneaks out one night to explore - only to find Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a handsome, laidback and very smart young caveman who foretells the end of their world as they know it.  When Guy proves to be right and the Croods barely escape the destruction of their cave alive, they have no choice (much to Grug's dismay) but to set out into a colorful, wondrous, yet potentially dangerous world as Guy leads them to safety.  A funny, colorful, good-for-all-ages animated gem about the importance of family, working together, and never being afraid to explore your destiny. (rated PG)  ****1/2

THE CROODS trailer

MIRACLE IN CELL NO. 7 (2013)

Korea's #1 box office hit of 2013 is the funny, charming, heartbreaking story of a mentally-challenged man, Yong-Goo (Ryu Seung-Ryong), struggling to raise his beloved seven-year-old daughter when some very bad timing finds him accused of murder.  Though innocent, the local bigwigs want a killer, and with his disability Yong-Goo is an ideal target; he's torn from his daughter and put in jail until the trial, where he ends up with a small group of petty thieves who not only see he's innocent - but that it's killing him to be apart from his daughter.  Hatching a plan to actually smuggle the little girl IN to the prison, to see daddy, what starts as a one-time thing turns into multiple visits (where the film's comedy shines best).  But there are those determined Yong-Goo will die for his "crime," the clock ticking as Yong-Goo's cellmates, the guards, even the prison warden all lend a hand to save him.  HAVE KLEENEX HANDY for this one; it will leave an indelible impression on your heart. (not rated)  ****1/2

MIRACLE IN CELL NO. 7 trailer

FROZEN (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Anna and Elsa grew up princesses in the peaceful kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa with the ability to magically create snow and ice with just a touch of her hand.  When this power (which only grows with Elsa's emotions) causes a near-fatal accident for young Anna, to protect both girls Elsa and her magic are hidden away within the castle.  Years later, when the now-orphaned teenage girls prepare for Elsa's coronation as queen, Elsa is sure she has things under control  ... until a heated argument forces her to flee to the distant mountains for safety, her powers freezing the entire kingdom into a land of ice.  But it's the optimistic Anna who doesn't give up, and with the help of mountain man Kristoff and a goofy snowman named Olaf, she braves the frigid mountains to find her sister and bring her home.  Visually stunning, beautifully scored, and with a strong "girl power" message, Frozen is Disney back to its hey-day of traditional animation - and the studio's best work since The Little Mermaid. (rated PG)  *****

FROZEN trailer

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Your best shot at appreciating August: Osage County is if you also have an appreciation for theater. Not just because the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, but also because it's an unconventional master-class in ensemble acting; one that pushes your comfort level by giving you a viciously up-close look into the lives of the Weston women, led by patriarch Violet (Meryl Streep), a smoker dying from mouth cancer who can do with words what the A-bomb did for Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  When Violet's husband goes missing, the three daughters and their respective families descend on the family home in the sweltering Oklahoma summer - where personalities clash, secrets come to light, and the manipulative Violet keeps stirring the pot ... until the film ends leaving its viewer battered and exhausted, and thanking God your own family's not this bad.  Powerful, acidic, even darkly funny at times - love it or hate it, it's an experience you won't soon forget.  (rated R)  *****

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY trailer

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
The most nail-biting suspense of any film released in 2013 chronicles the true story of Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and his MV Maersk Alabama - the first American cargo ship to be hijacked by Somali pirates in over two hundred years - and the subsequent kidnapping of Phillips himself, leading to a nine-hour stand-off 145 miles off the Somali coast that grows increasingly tense, as the chances for either Phillips or the band of four ragtag hijackers to come out of it all alive dwindle badly.  While all the press is true about Hanks being so brilliant in the lead role, the revelation here is Barkhad Abdi; as Muse, leader of the desperate hijackers, he brings a sensitivity and sense of doomed fatality to the role that is as heartbreaking as any other Oscar-nominated performance this year.  Just be prepared to sit on your hands through the last 45 minutes especially, or you might find yourself chewing your fingernails down to the elbow.  Yeah - that suspenseful.  Also, hands down, one of 2013's very best. (rated PG-13)  *****

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS trailer

NOW, VOYAGER (1942)

**Valentine's Day MUST-SEE**
Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a repressed, overweight and pathologically shy woman from a wealthy and well-connected Boston family who has been driven almost insane by her oppressive and domineering mother.  It's a kind doctor (Claude Rains) who finally spirits her out of the house to save her life, and under his care in a sanitarium Charlotte blossoms into a beautiful butterfly, gaining confidence and slowly repairing her self-esteem even as she falls in love with a handsome French architect named Jerry (Paul Henreid) while on a cruise to South America.  The affair seems doomed, however - Jerry is married - and once back home conflict arises again with Charlotte's formidable mother, but it's a young, introverted girl named Tina who finally gives Charlotte her focus in life ... even as she learns something about the girl that gives her romance with Jerry a painful yet inevitable twist.  (not rated)  *****

NOW, VOYAGER trailer

WAKE UP SID (2009)

Sid Mehra (Ranbir Kapoor) is the ultimate Peter Pan; a slacker in college with no goals and zero ambition, who's used to riding his parents' money train to both get through life and go clothes shopping.  At a party he meets the beautiful, ambitious Aisha (Konkona Sen Sharma), who has come to the big city to break in as a journalist, and the two hit it off well ... until an argument with his father over Sid's lack of future sends Sid to room with Aisha (who is even less tolerant of his slovenly ways), where even a chance at independence falls on his deaf and rather childish ears.  The two leads make this film of one man's belated leap to adulthood (or not?) both completely believable and wholly charming, in a beautifully-felt Bollywood production that lacks the usual big production numbers of Bollywood films ... and is that much better, more intimate, for it.  (not rated)  *****

WAKE UP SID opening credits

CARRIE (2013)

A "reimagining", a remake, an update - however you want to classify this version of the Stephen King novel, it can't touch Brian De Palma's original.  Chloe Grace Moretz, as the beleaguered (and telekinetic) high school innocent who finds herself at the Prom Night from Hell - good as she is - just doesn't come close to capturing Sissy Spacek's doe-eyed vulnerability; her Carrie initially borders on backward, but oddly more confident way too early on.  Similarly, Julianne Moore seems more assured with making Mrs. White her own, yet still can't catch Piper Laurie's quiet, menacing madness.  Even Prom Night's horrors end up a bit of a disappointment here, and the swiping of the occasional line of dialogue from the original script still can't recapture that previous film's magic - making this version mediocre, at best. (rated R)  **1/2

CARRIE trailer

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Three hours of debauchery, rampant drugs, and naked women - no, not a Saturday night with Justin Bieber, but Martin Scorsese's "controversial" telling of the life of Jordan Belfort, who scammed and conned his way, as a stockbroker, to a height of money and power so high, the only place to go was down. Some have complained about Scorsese's glamorization of leading the (literally) high life, but the film's brilliance is in being SO excessive, it actually makes getting there (as least, the way Beflort did) distasteful.  Unless, of course, you register as low on the morals scale as he did. Well-deserved Oscar nominations all the way around, it's easy to see why some call this Scorsese's masterpiece. (rated R)  *****

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET trailer

BIG ASS SPIDER! (2013)

Boy (exterminator) meets Girl (military babe). Boy meets Big Ass Spider.  Boy - along with hilarious Mexican security guard buddy - must kill Big Ass Spider to win/save girl.  And in the hands of Greg Grunberg, Clare Kramer, and a star-making turn from Lombardo Boyar (as well as Mike Mendez having a hell of a good time with the material), Big Ass Spider! becomes one of the funniest, hippest, most madcap monster movies released in years ... and an awesome venue for watching the city of Los Angeles getting its ass kicked, once and for all.  Makes Eight-Legged Freaks look like Mary Poppins! (rated PG-13)  ****

BIG ASS SPIDER! trailer